Menu Close

Articles on São Paulo

Displaying all articles

The aftermath of a 2021 fire disaster in an abandoned building in central Johannesburg. Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images

Johannesburg fire: there was a plan to fix derelict buildings and provide good accommodation - how to move forward

Armed police interventions are unconstitutional and incapable of addressing housing and safety in the inner city.
Scorpions used to be a rural problem in Brazil. Now, residents of São Paulo and other urban areas are dealing with an infestation of these venomous creatures. AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini

Venomous yellow scorpions are moving into Brazil’s big cities – and the infestation may be unstoppable

Brazil’s scorpion infestation, which is terrorizing residents of São Paulo and other major cities, is a classic ‘wicked problem.’ That means officials must think outside-the-box to fix it.
Firefighters didn’t expect to find hundreds of homeless families squatting in a São Paulo building that caught fire. REUTERS/Leonardo Benassatto

Deadly highrise fire in Brazil spotlights city’s housing crisis and the squatter movement it spawned

Hundreds of squatters were living in a vacant police station in São Paulo when fire broke out on May 1, killing up to four people. The residents were part of Brazil’s nationwide homeless movement.
Brutal police raids on São Paulo’s so-called ‘Crackland’ have shocked the city and paved the way for redevelopment of this prime piece of real estate. Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

At what cost gentrification? São Paulo expels drug users and razes buildings to ‘revitalise Crackland’

Luz, a once-elegant 19th-century neighbourhood in downtown São Paulo, is prime real estate. But redevelopment means clearing out a homeless encampment known as “Crackland”.
Programme participants join in during capoeira lessons in Sao Paulo’s so-called ‘Cracolandia’. Sebastian Liste/Noor for the Open Society Foundations

São Paulo’s drug policies are working – will the new mayor kill them?

A public health programme respected locally, lauded globally, and based on the best science for helping homeless crack users, is at risk of falling victim to Brazil’s partisan politics.
For women studying and working in Eurocentric institutions, wearing natural hair can be a symbol of resistance. Shutterstock

Kinky, curly hair: a tool of resistance across the African diaspora

Natural hair has become a political rallying point for women across the African diaspora. For these women, wearing natural hair is way to resist Eurocentric norms and “post-racial” political thought.
Historic: weather patterns similar to what’s causing the drought in California are happening in Brazil. Hudsӧn/flickr

Megacity drought: Sao Paulo withers after dry ‘wet season’

The same persistent weather pattern bringing hot, dry conditions to California is likely connected to a punishing drought in the Sao Paulo area in Brazil.

Top contributors

More